Nifty 50 down 15% from its high: how deep is this fall?

Fifteen per cent

The Nifty 50 closed at 22,331.40 on Monday 30 March 2026. That is 15.18% below its record close of 26,328.55, set on 2 January, and the lowest close of the year.

Three other numbers from the same day:

• The P/E was 19.62, down from 22.92 at the record. Since NSE moved to consolidated earnings on 31 March 2021, only 18 days have closed lower, all between May and July 2022.
• India VIX closed at 27.89, its highest close since March 2022. It was 9.45 on 2 January, the day of the record.
• The index has fallen 11.3% in March so far. No full calendar month since March 2020 has seen a larger fall.

When we last looked, on 12 March, the index had just crossed 10% below its high in a slow grind with no daily fall as large as 2% (the correction post). The last two weeks were rougher. On 19 March the Nifty 50 fell 3.26%, its biggest one-day fall since 4 June 2024, and five of the eleven sessions since 12 March closed down more than 2%.

The six earlier 15% falls

Our daily closing record starts on 17 September 2007. Before this year, the index had fallen 15% or more below a previous high six times.

This fall reached 15% faster than four of the six, though nowhere near as fast as 2008 or 2020.

It is now deeper than three of the nine earlier falls of 10% or more: the ones that started in January 2018 (10.2% at the low), August 2018 (14.6%) and June 2019 (11.4%). It is shallower than where every one of the six above eventually bottomed. Two of those six went little further than this: 2021–22 ended at 17.2% and 2024–25 at 15.8%. Three went past 25%.

Which kind this is, the table cannot say.

The broad market

Since 2 January the falls have been similar in size across large, mid and small companies, between 13.9% and 15.2%. The difference is the starting point: the Smallcap 250 and Next 50 were already well below their September 2024 records when the year began, so they are now more than 22% below them.

The selling has been heavy. On NSE's provisional cash-market figures, foreign institutions sold a net ₹1,22,540 crore of Indian shares in March's sessions to 30 March, and domestic institutions bought ₹1,42,961 crore.

Equity funds since the record

Median change between the 2 January and 30 March NAVs, Direct plan, Growth option, and the median distance below each fund's own highest-ever NAV:

The median large-cap fund has lost a little less than the Nifty 50's 15.2%, and the median mid- and small-cap funds a little less than their indices. Small-cap funds stand furthest below their own highs because many of them were already below those highs when the year began. The 11 technology funds fell a median 23.32%.

What this does not tell you

The depth of a fall is only known afterwards. "Down 15%" is a fact about 30 March, not a forecast. The record has falls that stopped near here and falls that went on to 38% and 60%.

Our record starts in 2007. Earlier falls are not in the table.

A lower P/E is not a signal. It describes last year's profits at today's price. Nothing here is advice to buy or sell any fund or stock.

Where to go from here

India VIX's March spike and the Nifty P/E dropping below 20 look at two of the numbers above in more depth, and small-cap funds in the March fall does the same for small-cap funds.

The daily valuation series is on the Nifty P/E ratio page. For the investor's side of a fall like this, see the psychology of a market crash and a 20-year SIP through crashes.